The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method and, more particularly, to a radiography apparatus which photographs a high-resolution still image while observing an X-ray fluoroscopic image.
Conventionally, as a sensor for a system for taking a still X-ray image while observing an X-ray fluoroscopic image, a combination of an X-ray image intensifier and an indirect photographing unit such as a spot camera, rapid sequence camera, or the like, or an X-ray image intensifier and direct photographing cassette are used.
However, in the above-mentioned prior art, although the X-ray image intensifier has high sensitivity, its sensor portion has a large dimension in the X-ray fluoroscopy direction, and it is hard to apply it to a large screen. If the sensor portion is made large in size, the image intensifier becomes heavy. With the recent advance of the semiconductor technology, it has become possible to manufacture high-sensitivity, large-screen, lightweight, and low-profile sensors, while the use of the X-ray image intensifier is limited in the following respects:
(1) When the photographing screen is small, the X-ray image intensifier must move in correspondence with the x- and y-movements of an X-ray source. On the other hand, when the photographing screen size is increased, a long time is required to capture images in units of frames, and it is difficult to quickly capture images like a moving image.
(2) During fluoroscopy, the operator must keep close watch on both the interior of the photographing chamber and the fluoroscopy monitor.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an image processing apparatus and method which can solve the aforementioned problems, and allow efficient observation of fluoroscopic images.
It is another object of the present invention to increase the frame rate of moving image display by extracting and displaying a region irradiated with radiation from an image on a two-dimensional sensor.
It is still another object of the present invention to allow parallel capturing of images from a plurality of regions on a two-dimensional sensor, and to achieve a high frame rate of moving image display by dividing the irradiated region by these plurality of regions to improve image data capture speed.
It is still another object of the present invention to insert and display the irradiated region into a corresponding position of a normal visible image so as to improve operability.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.